Dessert in Action

This week my family selected Chili’s restaurant for our weekly take-out/drive-through/delivery dinner.
After a long day of work and school the family was interested in a casual dining experience at a restaurant with a wide variety of menu choices. We considered O’Charley’s, Romano’s Macaroni Grill, and Applebee’s; however travel time and best coupons went into the selection of Chili’s. I ultimately decided on Chili’s based on past dining experiences and knowing the food selections that my family enjoys eating.
We ordered an appetizer skillet Queso and bottomless Tostada Chips, for the main entrée I ordered the Fajita Trio Grilled steak, chicken, and spicy shrimp, cup of black beans and broccoli. For the dessert we ordered the Molten Chocolate Cake topped with vanilla ice cream under a hard chocolate shell. We thought about ordering the Brownie Sundae with warm, rich chocolate brownie topped with vanilla ice cream and hot fudge. If we order a beer and/or margarita, then dessert is usually not ordered. I like the dessert offerings at Chili’s and experience them every couple of visits.
The biggest considerations when making the dessert selections are something that appeals to everyone’s taste. My wife weighed in on the final decision. She really enjoys good desserts and the brownie and Molten Cake were our top two choices. Of course, the Molten Chocolate cake was a joint decision based on our love of the dessert. A chocolate flavored dessert with fudge and ice cream was in full view for my family post meal.

The other desserts available and why they were not chosen are listed below:
Brownie Sundae, was in our top 2; however, the Molten Cake was received the most votes and offered the largest portion size

The Oreo Toped Molten Cake was not selected because it’s a limited time offer, and it was not one of the favorite staples on Chili’s menu. The family was not interested in trying the cake because we were not interested in mixing the Oreo cookies with the cake.

The Chocolate Chip Paradise Pie, my wife is not a fan of coconut, so the family ruled this out.

Cheesecake was not in the running, we prefer ordering our cheesecake from the Cheesecake factory.

The Frosty Chocolate Shake was not considered as a family dessert. Only one of us could truly enjoy it.

The family was ready to eat! We ordered a double appetizer and everyone ate. Usually my wife, youngest son and I eat the appetizer. My oldest son usually does not try any of the appetizers, but he enjoyed it with the rest of us. The Queso and Chips kicked off our meal night and it was very good because everyone at the table was hungry. The orders were as followed: Hillary Crispy Honey Chipotle Chicken Crispers, Lil Bryan ordered Chicken Club Quesadillas, Michael ordered Cheese Burger only Ketchup, and I ordered Fajita Trio. The restaurant was not busy, but it seemed like an extremely long wait for our main entrees to be delivered. Once we received our food everyone was satisfied. Our dessert was served post meal; the server cleared the table and brought over 2 servings of the Molten Chocolate Cake. The dessert in our family is mostly served post meal. The fudge was formed as a hard shell over the cake and the vanilla bean ice cream was on top. The cake was moist, warm, and chocolate was oozing down the sides and the cake was so good. My wife and I shared one and the kids shared the other serving and it was oh so good.
We thoroughly enjoyed the desert post meal.
The dessert was served on a separate plate and we all equally enjoy the treat.
We can better enjoy our dessert after we eat the main entrée. It allows you to focus on the dessert and only the dessert as we savor every bite to the end. The mood is great. Everyone is laughing and talking as we continue to savor every bite and compliment how really good the dessert makes us feel.
The best part of tonight’s meal and dessert was the fun time that my family experienced by eating together. The overall Chili’s restaurant in Duluth, GA service was average, but again, just being with the family, talking, laughing, enjoying our meal and savoring the taste of the awesome dessert selection all the way home. The best part of the dessert was the chocolate cake blended with the fudge and ice cream. I love when the ice cream melts with the fudge and it all becomes one moist treat. In the end the Molten Cake was good at Chili’s, but I still prefer the O’Charley’s overall. The ingredients are just a lot better. Don’t get me wrong, the dessert at Chili’s was very good, but it was not the best I ever had. The desert added extra time post meal to conversation with the family. Ordering only an appetizer and entree seems to speed the dining experience, but adding a dessert allows you to relax and enjoy being in the moment wit the people that means the most to you.

Take-Out/Drive-Through/Delivery Dessert:Good Bad & Ugly

The GOOD

The Cheesecake factory has over 30 flavors of cheesecake, but our favorite is the Strawberry cheesecake. Hands down it is the best cheesecake in the marketplace. The cheesecake is served with fresh strawberries with a glaze and cool whip topping. During the first bite it melts in your mouth, it's a little tart, with a blend of smooth & light cream cheese, blended with the fruity strawberry flavor. Your eyes light up at the presentation of the desert and how the items are strategically placed on the plate. My family loves the Cheesecake Factory and best of all one slice (a Huge Slice) can be shared between the four of us; however, most time we order individual slices w/ take out boxes and it is very yummy.

Maggianos Nonna’s Toasted Pound Cake. The family style meal is the draw that gets everyone in the restaurant, but the dessert earns you a follow up visit. The toasted pound cake with caramelized bananas is the star of the show. After you indulge in the family style meal that includes the appetizer, salad, pasta, and entrée it’s desert time. Maggianos Nonna’s Toasted Pound Cake is delicious. It taste so much like it was baked in someone’s home kitchen. The cake is light, with a hint of fresh squeezed lemons, moist (touch and taste), buttery, vanilla that's not too sweet or overbearing. It’s so good that it melts in your mouth. As soon as the pound cake hits the table it’s eaten by everyone and the waiter brings unlimited refills. The pound cake is topped with bananas, hot fudge, and vanilla bean ice cream. Again, in my opinion to date this is the best pound cake that I’ve ever tasted.

Chick-Fil–A is best known for chicken sandwiches, but a not so well kept secret is their hand-spun milkshakes. Chick-Fil-A must have an old fashioned ice cream churner hiding somewhere in the back of the restaurant. The Chick-Fil-A cookies and cream milkshake is creamy with the right blend of flavors to make you desire a second order before driving away from the take out window. The milkshakes are hand-spun, with whipped cream topping that makes it taste so good with one cherry on top. The cookies taste like Oreos and chopped and mixed in perfectly with the shake. You can chew the cookies and taste and feel the real crunch of the texture. I used to purchase my milk shakes from other establishments; however, there is no comparison to the bold taste with the hint of real cookies finely blended with every slurp. The size of the milkshake comes in large and kids size that are large enough to satisfy your cravings.

The BAD & UGLY

The Kentucky Fried Chicken Double Chocolate Chip Cake is not one of my favorites. The cake is not moist, the chocolate taste has a bad aftertaste, and the fudge is too overbearing on the overall cake flavor. The best part of the cake is the chocolate chips, which will not entice me to purchase in the future. This cake reminds of going to a NY Deli at 2AM and looking at a cake dish wondering if the cake has been in there for 30 days. The size of the bundt cake is surprising large and feeds a family of four, but the taste does not entice you to want to eat it.

My family loves Starbucks beverages, coffee , hot chocolate, espresso, Frappuccino, and teas. The kids are big fans of the hot chocolate and the wide varieties of teas. We have tried several of the deserts on the menu and our all-time worst dessert is the Iced Lemon Pound Cake. The cake is too thick, dry, not moist at all and is difficult to eat in one setting. We thought the cake may have exceeded its shelf life and decided to order another slice at different location, but the results were the same: thick and unappetizing. The iced glaze topping is good, but what a waste of a good pound cake. Going forward, I plan to stick with only the beverages, no dessert from Starbucks.

The Burger King Cinnamon Minibon Rolls with a cream cheese spread taste more like a store brought Cinnamon roll. The Cinnabon shops within the many malls across America can breath a sigh of relief because Burger King does not deliver on presentation or taste. The Burger King Cinnabons tastes bad, lacks the chewy and soft melt in your mouth taste and warm on the inside feeling it provides from the local Cinnabons shop. It’s warm at best, never hot, doughy in spots, and the flavoring is not consistent throughout the roll. This is wasted calories many store brought products such as Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls taste better. The cream chees frosting is sweet, but it just does not measure up to the Cinnabon shop roll. The name describe s exactly what's delivered upon purchase a minibon, which is rather small compared to store brand product. The kids did not like the taste, complained about the rolls being hard and just plain awful.

Me, Bryan Shaw

My name is Bryan Shaw and I love my family. It all started when me and my future mother-in-law worked at MCI. I was new in town and she was having a dinner party. I felt like I needed to go to this dinner party. This is where I met the girl of my dreams, my wife Hillary. We dated for a while and got married in 1998. Since then, we have had two boys born in 1997 and 2000 and I just adore them. My oldest son Michael is into music, mostly piano and is very smart. My youngest son Bryan is into sports and is pretty good. My wife Hillary is a great cook and I love her with all my heart.

























We have dessert two to three times a week. During the weekdays, we don't have a consistent time to eat dessert due to everyone's busy schedules, but we do make an effort to spend at least one day a week to eat dessert as a family. When the kids come home from school, we encourage them to eat healthy foods such as fruits and sandwiches. Sundays are family days when we have a big dinner and a fancy dessert. We usually eat cakes and brownies, ice cream, and cupcakes. This past week we celebrated Thanksgiving where we ate a wide variety of desserts such as sweet potato pie, 7-Up cake, coconut cake, German chocolate cake, and brownies. Thanksgiving last week allowed us to have a wide variety of dessert which made it unique how we can get samples of different desserts. Every birthday, we have a vanilla cake with cream cheese frosting. We like Publix cake, Sams Club, Pizza Hut cinnamon sticks, Popeyes apple pie and my mother-in-law's cake. We order desserts from Pizza Hut, TGI Fridays, O'Charley's molten lava cake, McDonald's apple pie and also Popeye's apple pies. A few of our family favorites are pineapple upside-down cake, brownies, and Steak-n-Shake milkshakes. They taste great because they're all homemade except for the milkshake.